Fishing above the arctic circle

[AKnook]

Spent five days 33 miles above the arctic circle in a Alaska native village called Kotzebue in pursuit of the tarpon of the north, the sheefish. The sheefish is largest member of the whitefish family and they grow to impressive sizes in kotzebue. We would be using snow machines and a sled to navigate the frozen brackish water where the ocean meets the mouths of the noatak and kobuk rivers.

Two full days of fishing hard and long, sometimes getting home past 11pm. The sun is up most the time making it seem earlier in the day than it actually is. Zero fish those first two days. After doing some research and speaking with locals we decided to go further and scope out another area.

Twenty miles out and we finally get into them. This was my first time in Kotz and first time fishing for these beasts. I couldn't believe the size of these fish. The average catch was in the mid 30" range. We caught some for the table and released so many fish I couldn't keep count. I ended up catching the largest fish of the trip as it went 46.5"! Two 42.5" and a 44.5" fish were Also caught by my buddies. Although our goal was to break into the 50" mark the fishing was unreal. I ended up catching a pike as well which was a surprise. Although not true ocean there defiantly was salt water where we fished as we were catching flounder, a pike in the salt lol. It will be extremely hard going back to ice fishing for rainbows. Ha!

Enjoy some pictures of this trip, one which I will never forget.

46.5" beast. Fat and heavy probably close to forty pounds



42.5"


Pike in the salt ?


Midnight sun



Our chariot


The spans was unbelievable

 

[AaronKrick]

What an adventure! One day im going to Alaska for sure.

 

[Kit]

Great looking fish. And pike in salt water? Thats weird. I guess they could adapt to it could they not?

 

[chinooky]

Legendary! That's one to add to the bucket list. Thanks for sharing

 

[Brian]

Nice pics AK. Those fish look like a blast to have at the end of your line.

 

[Dozer]

Oh wow those look mean - wicked report with some wicked fish AK

 

[Shmogley]

Beautiful fish AK!

never even knew about these fish! that sounds like some amazing action up there bud
although that second pic you look like you were having a bad day, i make that same face when i lose a fish

yea about pike in the salt bro, out in scotia some of the tribs running from cape breton and the mainland get pike in the salt pretty often. and i heard form my uncles down there that newf/labrador gets some monsters in the salt too
also out in norway and the scandinavian countries, saltwater pike is a huge past time. they catch them in the fjords often and some of them reach monster proportions

nice pics and good report. thanks man

although now everytime i catch a whitefish im gonna be calling it micro compared to these badboys lol

 

[Cody309]

Awesome report AK! Those are beasts! Thanks for sharing

 

[[email protected]]

beauties! looks cold there though lol

 

[staffman]

Legendary! That's one to add to the bucket list. Thanks for sharing

x2

 

[AKnook]

Thanks guys! Haha, angry face on the second pic is due to glare, and hoisting a slab with a very bad back. Lol. Great experience. Next time will hopefully be with the fly rod.

 

[miles]

Awesome! I have read about these fish but wasn't aware there where areas you could target numbers of them.

Whats the fight like?

 

[chris f]

great stuff ak,thanks for posting and sharing :mrgreen: .Gonna look up those fish on google for sure.

 

[AKnook]

They fight okay. Nothing crazy as their size may indicate. They definitely rip drag but then lay low and just stay down. Then it's like bringing in a log, dead weight. The ice was four feet thick leaving only about a foot and a half of water to jig in. Hard to believe we caught these beasts in a foot of water. The hardest part fighting these fish was trying to turn them into the hole.

 

[riverrat]

nice fish

 

[hamiltonangler94]

Nice fish AK!